Two Hilo-side Big Island churches hit the century mark

By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald

Two east Hawaii Island churches have lived to see their hundredth birthdays this month. Good Shepherd Mission in Honomu marked its century milestone on March 9 with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Larry Silva. St Joseph Church in Hilo will commemorate its centennial on March 24 also with a Mass with Bishop Silva.

Both churches share common roots in the early Sacred Hearts missionaries who served the larger Hilo region.

Good Shepherd’s history goes back 60 years earlier than its present century-old church, when its predecessors were built along the rugged Hamakua coast, sprouting amid the sugarcane fields.

The late Hawaii Catholic Church historian Father Robert Schoofs describes the missionary efforts that brought the faith to the district north of Hilo.

“As early as the 1860s, churches or chapels were mentioned in Honomu, Kalaoa, Paohai and Waikumalu,” the Sacred Hearts priest wrote in his book “Pioneers of the Faith.”

The priests traveled between churches on horse or mule because “in the countryside and up the mountain slopes there were mere trails, no roads.”

They wore cassocks and stored altar provisions and canned food in their saddlebags. A large raincoat, attached to the back of the saddle was the “traveling missionary’s most valued piece of clothing,” Father Schoofs said.

The missionary would be on the trail up to two weeks at a time, visiting the sick, administering the sacraments and instructing catechumens.

The arrival of the sugar plantations in the 1870s brought roads and bridges, easing a bit the hardship of traversing the landscape.

The first Sacred Hearts missionary to the north Hilo district was Father Charles Pouzot, followed by Father Bonaventure Loots and Father Ulrich Taube.

Bishop Herman Koeckeman blessed Honomu’s first Good Shepherd Church, built by Father Loots, on July 4, 1889. That church burned down 30 years later and was replaced by the present church, built by Sacred Hearts Father Gabriel Feron and blessed by Bishop Libert Boeynaems on March 9, 1919.

The district boomed with the sugar industry. Father Feron was responsible for the Honomu, Papaikou and Hakalau missions for 28 years. Other notable Sacred Hearts priests who served the area in those early days included Father Louis Boeynaems and Father Gustave Fierens. In later years, the Maryknoll Fathers took over the area, followed by diocesan priests.

The green-roofed Good Shepherd Church sits on the Old Mamalahoa Highway by Pohakumanu Bay about 12 miles north of Hilo, midway between Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Papaikou, of which it is a mission, and St. Anthony Church in Laupahoehoe.

The original Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Anthony churches were built around the same time as Good Shepherd but burned down in 1989 and 1990 respectively, and were replaced.

Today the three churches are collectively called the Hamakua Catholic Community and have one priest administrator, Augustinian Father Norlito Concepcion of Manila.

Their website describes their community as one that has “shared in all that East Hawaii has experienced in the last century and a half. These include natural disasters — earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions — as well as the economic displacement caused by the demise of the sugar industry on the island. … Agriculture, primarily the growth and harvesting of papaya, macadamia nuts, sweet potatoes and ginger continues. Our parish members are entrepreneurial and many trades and professions are represented in our community.”

After its anniversary Mass on March 9, the mission celebrated with a luncheon at Honomu Hongwanji and honored past, current and future parishioners.

St. Joseph Church

According to Father Schoofs, the faith was introduced to Hilo town by a lay catechist named Valeriano, one of the first converts of Sacred Hearts Father Alexis Bachelot, leader of the first Catholic missionaries to the islands.

By the time Hilo received its first resident priest in 1846, Sacred Hearts Father Pouzot, hundreds of natives in Hilo and its surrounding areas had already been baptized by priests passing through from other parts of the island.

Father Pouzot’s own success in attracting converts required a larger more permanent church than the three humble grass structures he was using. In 1848, he built Hilo’s first Catholic church, St. Martin de Tours.

The new church “proved to be a milestone in the history of the Catholic Church in Hilo,” according to Father Schoofs.

Conversions increased as the church was embellished and enlarged over the years, and received a bell, thanks partly to the generosity of American Catholic sailors docking at Hilo harbor. Even with the expansion, the church was soon too small for the growing number of Catholics. The foundation for a new structure was laid at Keawe Street and Waianuenue Avenue.

On July 9, 1862, Bishop Louis Maigret blessed the new church and dedicated it to St. Joseph. The same day, in the new church, the bishop baptized 40 new Catholics and confirmed about 300.

Built on a hill, the twin-towered building stood as a beacon for ships making port and as a monument to the Big Island’s dynamic faith.

Father Pouzot, after laboring for 50 years in Hilo and its neighboring districts, died on April 30, 1895. Hilo had grown much during his time thanks to the harbor and the plantations, which brought in more people including a flood of Catholic Portuguese immigrants.

In 1905, the newly appointed pastor Father Wendelin Moeller, wrote to Bishop Libert Boeynaems that the Hilo church had become “much too small for a population of 3,000 souls, of which two-thirds are Portuguese.”

By then the parish had gained an assistant priest, a school for boys and a school for girls, plus a slew of lay organizations. In 1906, the church was expanded and received a total restoration.

Father Moeller’s successor in 1909 was Father James Beissel, whom Father Schoofs described as a “sturdy and fearless” missionary.

It was Father Beissel who bought the lot on the corner of Haili and Kapiolani Streets in 1915 from the First Trust Company and drew up plans for a new concrete church and rectory. They were completed in early February 1919.

It is that church, with its Spanish baroque façade, its elegant tower topped with an open belfry and cross-topped dome, and its unique stained glass windows, that is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

Following the Sacred Hearts Fathers serving in Hilo were the Maryknoll priests, and later diocesan priests and priests of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. Blessed Sacrament Father Wilbert Laroga is the present pastor.

 

Centennial celebration

Here is a list of events commemorating the 100th anniversary of St. Joseph Church, Hilo:

• March 22: 7 p.m., five choirs concert with guest singers in the church
• March 23: 1 p.m., marriage convalidation Mass with Bishop Larry Silva; 5 p.m., marriage renewal vows Mass
• March 24: 11 a.m., centennial Mass with the Bishop; 1 p.m., fiesta with food, entertainment and displays

The parish today

Descendants of the original parishioners still dedicate themselves in service to the church and their neighbors in need. The Hot Meals ministry has been serving the hungry for many years. The bereavement group supports those in mourning. The pastor and parochial vicar, Father Wilbert Laroga and Father Apolinario ‘’Poli’’ Ty, and parish volunteers visit the hospital, nursing homes and the homebound weekly.

The parish provides faith formation opportunities to parishioners and its K-12 parochial school families, assisting parents and godparents in shaping children and adolescents to be faithful contributing citizens in our community through prayer, service and preparation for the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and First Communion.